Kenyan leaders appeal for peace ahead of vote

Kenya's Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere, center, is shown security arrangements around the Bomas of Kenya, where votes from across the country from Wednesday's referendum will be tallied, in Nairobi, Kenya, Tuesday, Aug. 3,2010. Leaders in Kenya are calling on the country to carry out a peaceful referendum. Wednesday's vote is the first national ballot since postelection violence in 2007-08 left more than 1,000 people dead. (AP Photo/Khalil Senosi
— AP

Kenya's Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere, center, is shown security arrangements around the Bomas of Kenya, where votes from across the country from Wednesday's referendum will be tallied, in Nairobi, Kenya, Tuesday, Aug. 3,2010. Leaders in Kenya are calling on the country to carry out a peaceful referendum. Wednesday's vote is the first national ballot since postelection violence in 2007-08 left more than 1,000 people dead. (AP Photo/Khalil Senosi
/ AP

Kenya is sending thousands of extra police officers to the Rift Valley, home of the largest concentration of Kenyans planning to vote against the constitution and site of some of the worst attacks in 2007-08. During the violence, tribesmen used bows and arrows to fight each other, gangs hacked opponents to death and police were accused of shooting sprees.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga said Tuesday that the world had come to believe Kenyans cannot hold peaceful votes.

"As we go to the referendum to decide whether the proposed constitution should be our supreme law or not, I want to appeal to our people to prove the world wrong," Odinga said in a statement.

Kenya's police commissioner said his forces are better prepared to deal with any violence. More than 63,000 police officers will secure the referendum.

"We have adequate security forces in every division and the districts. We have standby forces to act to any eventuality that may occur," Commissioner Mathew Iteere said. "To those who will win I am appealing to them to be magnanimous in their celebration, and to the others to graciously accept the verdict and will of the people."

The draft constitution cuts down the president's enormous powers by setting up an American-style presidential system of checks and balances. Kenyan presidents have long favored their own tribesmen in the distribution of resources, a source of tension here.